Good times with Hellfire
by LoliPear the WaltzQueen
Summary: Pepito and Todd, thourgh the spooky years. Crossposted from AO3
1. The AntiChrist comes a-calling

Todd "Squee" Casil stared at the formerly white wall of the Defective Head Meat Institute's finest padded cell when the door creaked open. The scribbled drawings taped around the room fluttered as if waving hello, or maybe trying to wave the visitor back from whence he came.

"I see you have draped yourself in the raiments of the dark ones to see me. You didn't have to do all that, you know." Pepito, because there was no one else that could be, admired the pentagram smeared onto his forehead and the forks stuck in his hair like horns. If Squee was less drugged to the gills he could have told him that the forks were from the doctors attempting to poke his brain through his skull. He might have even informed Pepito that the pentagram was placed there by a huge fan of Senor Diablo's work that had accosted him in the feeding area today. The ketamine they shot him full of earlier only let him slowly move his head and moan weakly, though.

"The doctors told me that they had to sedate you so I shouldn't expect words." He hung his head in obvious dissapointment before perking right back up. "But the doctors aren't psychic, even if the desk lady is. So I can still talk to you." Pepito scrambled over to Squee and sat right in front of him. Squee slowly looked away from the stained padding on the wall towards Pepito. The Antichrist squinted slightly, a visage of childish concentration. He raised his hands in the air and wiggled his fingers before grabbing Squee and slamming their foreheads together.

Squee saw stars for a long moment. When they cleared out, though, the only think he could see were Pepito's mismatched eyes. A sickly green and deep, bloody red, they sparkled like cursed jewels with Pepito's obvious delight. Squee felt something trickle down from his hairline. It might have been blood, but couldn't force himself to look away from Pepito's eyes to check.

 _Like this_! Pepito shouted into Squee's mind. _Father showed me how to do this yesterday. I am not yet a master at it, but I didn't explode your head. So I'm okay for now._ Squee sure felt like his head was about to explode. Pepito's horns had only grown an inch from the last time they had been close enough to each other to touch, but it felt like a foot when they were jammed into his forehead.

 _Anyway, I hear tell that the food here is infernal. So Mom made some StoveTop._ Pepito said(?), placing a hot tupperware container in Squee's lap, eye contact unbroken. _Sorry if it's hot. I summoned it with my Spooky Doom Powers. Pretty neat, yes?_

 _Uhh...yep_ , Squee said cautiosly. Pepito's eyes lit up with pride. His whole face lit up with satisfaction. Infact, Squee was pretty sure Pepito was actually glowing with the fire of hell right now. It was actually kind of painful, especially since he hadn't been able to close his eyes at all. It was almost over the top, but his mom really did make good StoveTop, so it wasn't all bad. _Hey, Pepito._ Squee projected. _This feels kind of funny._ Most of the spooky things Pepito did felt weird, even when Pepito wasn't using his powers on him, but on other people.

 _Dad says that wears off the more you do it. If we do it enough it shouldn't feel weird anymore. Something about souls and lifelines. I stopped listening because they were showing the blood monkey show on tv. It was the episode where they feed the babies to the alligators._ Squee became more horrified as he went on. It was almost a relief when Pepito's eyes grew concerned and he stopped talking. And then finally, finally, Pepito blinked.

Squee was suddenly aware of his body and the sounds of the Institute around him. Among these sounds was Rosemarie Diablo, calling Pepito's name. The Antichrist drew his head back slowly, pulling his horns from in Squee's facial skin. Some of the pentagram on Squee's forehead had transfered over to Pepitos in a blurred circle.

"Sorry, Amigo. I have to go." Pepito's feet began flaming. "I shall return soon, though. I'll watch you as well. We have a great view of this place from the basement!" Pepito waved jauntily as the fire engulfed his form and he dissapeared, leaving only a plastic container of StoveTop, two bleeding head wounds and a large scorch mark in his wake.

Squee didn't sleep that night.


	2. Spanish Soothes the Savage Beast

Todd starts considering keeping a dictionary of Spanish as Pepito uses more and more non-english words. He's pretty sure some of them aren't Spanish or any other human language, but the dictionary can't hurt, he figures. So here he is, skulking through the library books, on high alert. Who knows what evils lurk with in the hearts of man and whether they also lurk in Hi Skool libraries? Maybe Pepito or Senor Diablo know, but they aren't telling and Todd's not asking.

Todd makes it to the language section of the shelves without incident. German, Italian, Pig, Russian, there's Spanish! The book's not glowing with an evil aura nor is it dripping blood and Todd's thankful for that. He pulls the book out of the stacks. It's half his weight and as tall as a fifth grader. At least he'll learn a lot from such a thick book, even if it takes a while.

Todd hears a faint noise, like someone shuffling their feet on the other side of the shelf. He smells the stench of decay and rot a moment after. He forgoes any semblance of stealth and jets out of the books and up to the check out desk as fast as he can. The wizened old man at the desk eyes him slowly and reaches for the book stamp with all the speed of molasses in winter. The stench of rot, once faint with the distance he put between them, grows thicker again. Please, please hurry Mr library man Todd thinks in his mind. He's sweating bullets by the time the book has been stamped and passed back over the shelf.

Todd grabs the book and Squee!s as he runs out the library. A roar echos behind him. Todd's pretty sure he's going gray.

"Ah, yes. Mi Corazon, Squee, Have you completed your assignment for Mr. Dwicky?" Pepito sits in the desk next to Todd gracefully, like he didn't just tear the legs off a cheerleader less than ten minutes ago. "I have completed mine on the subject of systematic destruction of the people under the tyranny of Hitler and his many failings in that."

"Mine is Abraham Lincoln. He was did a lot of important stuff and was assassinated," Todd mumbles, glancing at the buffer of empty seats between him and Pepito and the rest of the classroom. "he was really tall."

Whatever else Todd may have said was cut off, when a text book thicker than his arm slammed into the back of his head. Todd moaned a little and desperately tried to ignore the suddenly intensified heat and snarling pouring off of his best friend. The classroom erupted into laughter and Pepito's snarls grew louder. He had to do something quickly or else everyone would have their faces peeled off, like the last day of Middle Skool.

"Estoy bien. No le hagas caso." Pepito's growling cut off and he stared at Todd, wide eyed or as wide as his mismatched eyes ever became.

"Puedes hablar espanol, Squee?" Pepito peered at Todd intensely. Todd was distantly worried that he would catch fire if Pepito kept it up. The class has quieted from hyena like cackling into quieter giggles.

"Si," He said quietly. "I'm not good yet, though." Of course he had started out learning how to say "please stop" and how to beg for mercy. He hadn't had time to find out what those things Pepito kept calling him meant.

"I see. I shall instruct you then. You will speak with all the finesse and power of the silvered tongue Judas Iscariot. I will teach you all the best jokes." Pepito displayed his many, sharp teeth in a wide grin. Todd relaxed, no one would be melted today and he wouldn't have to have a nightmare about it. Nervously, Todd smiled back.

"Alright. Today we are covering the tragedies of recent Russian history,"Mr Dwicky declared as he slammed the door open, carelessly. He ambled to his desk and dropped his book on the desk with a loud smack. Todd, having turned to the front of the room did not notice as a dark haired girl with an eye patch flung another book at his head. He also did not notice Pepito's hands glow under the desk, as he forced the book to make a U-Turn and smack into the thrower's face, breaking her neck instantly.

Todd took notes obliviously as the girl let out a quiet death rattle in the back row.


	3. Squee should become a Hermit

"My name? I am known by many names."

These were the first words Todd heard from Pepito Diablo. Part of him was sad those hadn't remained the only ones and another part of him was so glad they weren't. Either way he may or may not feel about it, he hears those words again. In fact, he's hearing them now. Pepito stands a few feet away from him, on the other side of the counter as Todd's supervisor, Simon, glares at him for attempting small talk. In all fairness, it was close to closing time and not a single other person was in the store. It admittedly wasn't the best idea to make a social visit on the clock, but he didn't expect the full brunt of greasy, pork rind smelling breath on the back of his neck in under two seconds.

Pepito hadn't changed much over the years. Sure he got taller and lost some of his baby fat like Todd had, but the same aura of impending damnation was there. He shared the same matte black hair color with Todd, but that was all they had in common. His flattened mohawk of childhood had grown out into a full head of hair going down to his frankly malnourished waist in a pony tail. The green tint on his skin was stronger now. His lock was now host to many, many more chains of various thickness. His pin prick horns had elongated into spirals long and sharp enough to impale an eel from one end to the other. And right now, in addition to their preternatural sharpness, the angle of Pepito's slump had their wickedly serrated points aimed at his boss' shiny forehead.

Todd really hopes that Pepito wouldn't gore or implode his supervisor. He really needs this job and the last few times a boss had been exploded they didn't bump Todd up the ladder to replace him. It was almost a shame, Todd thinks fleetingly as Pepito jugded if Simon deserved to live. If the death of his boss resulted in a promotion every time, then he would be a CEO, and all thanks to Pepito.

The pause only lasted a moment despite the twenty minutes it felt like. Pepito raked his eyes over Simon once more before turning back to Todd.

"Well, Amigo," Pepito begins with amusement. Todd looks up at him and shudders because nothing good has ever come of a sentence started with that. "At least you're consistent with the type of souls you attract. I've not seen one so ready to mutilate the flesh of human beings since your neighbor moved away. "

Todd attempts to stifle his squeak and only fails a little bit. Todd turns himself slowly towards Simon. He always hopes that Pepito is lying to him when he says things like that. He's the Prince of Lies! So how come he's never lying when Todd hopes he is? Pepito never seems to lie about murderers trying to get close to him and he seems to have continued this trend, because that looks a lot like Simon is reaching for a large mallet. Pepito reaches over the counter and drags Todd over it by the shoulder just as Simon swings. Todd's never sure if he feels more fright in these situations when he's with a murderer or when Pepito has him dangling about a foot and a half off the ground.

Pepito forgoes letting go of him and instead tucks him under his arm like a box of terrified burritos. He can feel his ribs starting to ache under the strain of Pepito's grasp. A glance upwards reveals that Pepito's earlier amusement had soured his face into a look of contempt without end. Movement from behind the counter draws Todd's attention back to Simon. Simon's head is dripping grease like he dunked himself in a fryer. His eyes were wide with murderous rage and his mouth foamed. Todd could barely decide who he was more afraid of.

The terrified indecision only lasts a split second before Simon starts jerking and shrieking. Steam flows out of his mouth as his skin starts melting off his bones and falls on the floor in bloody strips. He seemed to unravel like a poorly made doll. Simon's wailing didn't cover up the wet smack of skin as it slid off. The revealed flesh and organs then start the same process until Simon is just a puddle of steaming blood and viscera. A distant part of him that sounds like the voice of his old teddy bear, Shmee, bemoans the loss of another superior and with him Todd's job. A less distant, more present part of him is horrified and in shock.

Pepito, the Antichrist, the son of Satan, the altarboy of doom, was a lot less horrified and a lot more satisfied. He radiated it with his smug smirk and would scream it from the roof tops if he felt like it. He didn't need to though, because Todd was right here and could see it on Pepito's face just fine. Todd could feel his hair greying. He would probably be fully grey by the time his eighteenth birthday rolled around in three months. If he lived that long.

"Ah, another soul damned." Pepito sets Todd down on the counter right besides a semisolid chunk of Simon's thick neck. He bent over and stuck both his hands into the puddle of liquified manager. Todd averted his eyes as quickly as he could and began trying not the hyperventilate. He swished them around before clenching and drawing out what looked like a small ghost, covered in tar. It sobbed and moaned as Pepito stuffed it in his back pocket casually. Todd heaved in large gulps of air in an attempt to not faint.

"Come on, Squee. Let's go get something to eat. I'm starving." Pepito then strolled over to the door. Todd let himself down, careful to avoid stepping in Simon, and scrambled to escape the smell of sulfur and human agony. Pepito held the door open for him and flipped the sign on the way out.


	4. Woofles

Go back to the loony bin!"

Todd's back slammed into his open, snot green locker and he fell to the ground Torq was having a bad day, apparently. Or maybe it was a good day? It was hard to tell, when he tortured Todd either way. The other students watched with malicious satisfaction all over their faces.

"You're so weird, you Loony! They put crazies on leashes, you know! You should be on a leash. like a dog!" The student body cackled like a pack of hyenas as the school bell rang. No faced with the opportunity to escape the hellish institution the crowd dispersed, leaving Todd alone on the ground. He hung his head and sighed.

"I will destroy them for you," Pepito prompted.

Todd squeed and jolted. His head flew up and he locked eyes with the Antichrist across the hall. Pepito's eyes bored into Todd's. Breaking eye contact, Pepito surveyed Todd and his open locker door.

"I'm alright, but thank you," Todd said shakily. He slowly raised himself off of the ground. Todd faced his locker and the shabby books inside, before grabbing the one labeled History of Everything. He closed the locker door and turned only to notice Pepito standing about five inches away from him.

"You are not a dog, Squee." Pepito assured him. He stared at Todd for a moment, before smiling ominously. "I have a dog. You have not yet met Woofles. Come," he called to Todd as flames began to envelope the both of them. "I will introduce you."

Todd trembled as he recovered from the teleportation Pepito had inflicted on him. It had been greatly disturbing to see Pepito teleport away and hear the eerie whispers his flames made as the burnt themselves out. But it was soothing compared to actually being teleported without warning. Pepito was of course, completely fine and trodding over to the dog house situated in the backyard of the Diablo residence. Todd stumbled over behind him to see the dog half in and half out of the nondescript dog house.

"This is Woofles." Pepito exclaimed, grandly gesturing to the decrepit poodle having a nap. "She is asleep now, but I will wake her so she can meet you." He strode over to the canine and began gently prodding it awake.

"I was afraid you'd have a big, scary dog. Woofles looks kinda cute." He looked down shyly and scuffed his toe on the pristine grass. All this worry about a dog he had only heard mentioned once in grade school was for nothing. He felt kind of silly.

WOOF

Todd may or may not have gained a grey streak in his hair. Todd looked up to see Pepito walking back towards Todd, with Woofles in tow. Woofles seemed to have only looked small when she was sleeping, because what had appeared to be a normal, black poodle was currently the size of a bear with more teeth than it should rightfully have. Her eyes were a milky orange with no pupil, but Todd could swear she was looking at him with intent to maim.

"Woofles, this is Squee." He patted Woofles gently and firmly said,"He is not for eating. You must protect him." He followed up with a few muffled, spooky sounding words and few barks, presumably to get the point across.

Having received introductions Woofles stalked towards Todd and opened her mouth wide. Six tentacles with teeth on the end emerged from her throat and began flailing in the air around Todd's face. Todd's short and horrible life flashed before his eyes. Woofles, however did not eat his face off, but instead retracted her spooky dog appendages, closed her humongous jaws on the hem of his shirt and dragged him into the dog house entry, where she had been sleeping.

"She likes you , Squee." Pepito followed Squee and Woofles to the corner. Having shepherded the mortal boy where she wanted him, Woofles grabbed a large bone off the ground and dropped it on Todd's feet where it oozed blood.

"She desires that you throw it."

The blood stained his thumb and forefinger as he daintily lifted the bone off the ground and flung it as far across the far as he could. It was hardly making a descent towards the grass when Woofles bounded into the air and chomped down on it. The bone may have screamed. Woofles proudly trotted over and set it on the ground between Todd and Pepito. There was no longer any screaming but there was whimpering and , sure enough ti was from the bleeding bone.

"You have done well, Woofles," Pepito said. Rubbing the dog on her black, fuzzy head. "You shall be rewarded, but for now Todd and I have other matters to attend to."

Woofles licked Todd, leaving a smear of hot blood on his hand, and headed back into her dog house. Todd tried to wipe the blood off without looking at it. His shirt was red today, so it wasn't like the blood would be too noticeable. Todd instead tried to concentrate on Pepito as he threw the bone into the recesses of Woffles' dog house. The screaming resumed, but louder.

"Come, Mi Amigo, I got a new X-Box. Let us play Vampire Piggy Hunter Nine." Pepito led Todd away by the blood smeared hand.


	5. Pet Sitting

"Is it vicious?" Todd's dad droned. He was so obviously dead inside compared to the ever chipper Rosemarie Diablo. All the while, teenaged Todd Casil hid in the coat closet in the front entryway. Visitors to the house were almost never good. And while he really liked Rosemarie Diablo on a personal level this was shaping up to be one of those times.

Rosemarie stood on the chipped tile of the front entryway in a belted coat and a pleasantly blue scarf wrapped fashionably around her head.

"No, not at all. Woofles is tame as tame can be."Rosemarie replied. Todd observed as said dog, a decrepit black poodle of considerable size and considerable evil stared directly at Todd with her cloudy orange eyes. She held his gaze before opening her maw and catching a passing bird with the strange tooth tipped appendages that might have passed for tongues in hell. The thing gave out one last attempt at an avian cry for help before Woofles dragged it whole down her throat, subsuming it completely. Todd tried not to think about the evident bulge it made sliding down her gullet. He also tried not to think about the panicked way it struggled as it went failed on both accounts.

"Well, I have to go." She smiled sweetly and handed the leash to Todd's Dad. Woofles ambled inside , growling slightly. Todd was sure he could hear the sound of souls in torment underneath the growling. "Juan's Dad's place is far away so the boys are eager to get a move on. Call me if she gets to be any trouble. Thanks again!" Mrs. Diablo turned away and was led out the door by Todd's dad who was questioning if it was okay to feed her children.

Woofles, meanwhile, was left alone with Todd. And she was staring at began to sweat under the beast's gaze as time seemed to stretch around them like the worst flavor of taffy. The coat closet was stuffy already and he couldn't hide in it forever. He gathered what meager courage he had and crept out of the closet.

Woofles sat and watched patiently as her master's favored human came closer. He crouched his gangly form low to the ground. She had liked him from the moment they were introduced so she decided to find it amusing. He exuded the best kind of terror. He would probably be fun to chase, all the best humans were. She wagged her fluffy tail in greeting.

Woofles pondered the bone thin boy as he came closer. He was so unlike her master or the rest of her family. His blunt teeth wouldn't even make a dent in most peoples' throats or on their bones. He was paler even than her master's mother and skinny. Even so her master had told her that the timid human was his beloved and worth protecting. Master had spoken in the truest of tongues and whispered the future of this being to her. He had spoken a great many things.

"Good Woofles," he said shakily, extending his hand inch by inch. He gingerly set it on her head and scratched behind her ears. That felt so good. Master was a perfect judge of character. If she ever had to hunt him down Woofles would give him a head start, she decided.

Then the tall human slammed the door open. Her charge sprang to his full height and squealed. The other man stood in the doorway for a minute, glaring contemptuously before stepping in. He walked past her and her master's beloved as though declaring them worthless. She knew this one to be the one that had spawned her charge. She also knew that his days were numbered and his reckoning would come. She was hungry and there was no time like the present after all. She snarled and opened her mouth, letting outing out the tendrils she had used to snare that stupid bird earlier.

"Please don't eat my Dad." She turned her head back to her ward. He stood, curled in on himself. "He'd not that bad. He doesn't deserve to get eaten. I can get you lunch." Woofles suspected this was that 'overly generous and kind heart' that her Master had described. She gave it a moment of thought and slowly closed her mouth. Kibble would work just as well and it wasn't like she had orders to eat him.

"Thank you...Woofles."Her charge breathed out a sigh of relief. Humans, go figure.


	6. Squirrel

Todd and Pepito have a Fight.

All this over a stupid fucking squirrell.

Todd had seen the majority of his classmates eating outside during lunch everyday for the entire school year. He had seen them from a window hidden in the labyrinthine halls of the hi-school's endless corridors. Today's mass gathering of his dangerous and aggressive peers was different in that they all seemed to be grouped around something, like blood coagulating around the rim of a band-aid on the scary neighbor man. Todd's natural curiosity drove him to lean ever so slightly on the window. Being that this was a place of public education everything was made of balsa wood and tears. The flimsy latch dropped almost immediately, letting the window opened to pitch Todd out of his safe spot to land in some unruly bushes.

Todd dragged himself out slowly, evergreen pieces stuck wildly in his hair and one giant bruise covering his left thigh. It could have been worse, he supposed. Of course, since it was Todd Casil, it immediately got worse.

"Look it's the skinny squeak boy!" someone yelled. And almost instantly the group turned around to look angrily at him. An arm belonging to some mystery person yanked him from one spot on the ground to another in the middle of the throng of people. He landed face down two inches from a twitching fuzzy red mess. Todd extended a tentative hand towards the suffering creature. The squirrel, only gurgled weekly and expired. He focused on it for a long moment before someone threw a rock at his head. Then it was not time for looking, then it was time for curling into a ball. Someone took a swing at his head and Todd saw monochrome stars.

The raucous jeering of the crowd grew louder until it was subsumed by a low growling. As quickly as the kicking and laughing began it ended. Todd curled even tighter into himself, afraid of the malevolence that was flowing in like a wrathful tide. His skin prickled as the air went from room temperature to super heated in the blink of an eye. Fearfully, ever so slowly, Todd cracked open his eye a slit. The crowd had parted to let Pepito stand alone, six foot six and covered in chains. He was only vaguely aware of the people surrounding him on all sides as he watched the way Pepito's knuckles shifted under his skin like discontent silverfish.

Pepito narrowed his green eye and twitched his pinky slightly. A moment later everyone in the circle surrounding them had their stomachs torn open and gaping empty. Pepito stood there, holding everyone's missing large intestine lazily and smirking with an air of self satisfaction.

"Oh," he began mildly. "Did you need these to live?" His clawed hand released its cruel grip, letting the strings of organs slide to the ground . "I didn't notice." Various teens struggled to breathe through the shock. The Antichrist stood solidly in the midst of so much suffering, blood splattered his now openly uncaring visage."Lo siento."

Pepito strode over and through the intestines littering the ground as though it were spaghetti on a cafeteria floor. He grins conspiratorially as he extends a bloodied hand towards the cowering teen on the ground, surrounded by carnage. "Que tal, mi amigo?" Todd took a minute or two to make an attempt at avoiding hyperventilation. Pepito ran out of patience quickly, however and, after a moment or two,went from extending a hand to physically assist to using that now glowing hand to magically pick his mortal friend up and set him on his freaks out and pepito doesn't understand why. todd tells him he doesn't want so many people to die, pepito doesn't see why they're all uselss garbage anyway. He gets frustrated and todd does too. Todd asks him to ressurect them all, but pepito's not haivng any of that "and i bet you want me to resurrect that squirrel overe there too, yes?!" "Yes, it didn't deserve what happened to it, it couldn't help it being hurt " "and neither could you so i did you both a favor, and i'm not resurrecting them" "they're people, they're not nice but they have lives and people who would miss them" Angrily the part ways. People soon pick up on the fact that pepito and todd are fighting "did you break up with your boyfriend?" and people are as terrible to him as ever. one day someone goes farther than usual and they knock todd out, thinking he's dead they dump him in the woods behind school making the most halfassed effort to bury him. When todd doesn't come to school the next day, Pepito stops pretending he wasn't paying the utmost attention to Todd and instead listens carefully to the rumor mill. The three who thought they killed Todd were bragging about it for the sake of being cool. It doesn't last, though, when pepitoconfronts them, they say "weren't you not riends with him anymore why should you care?" Pepito grabs one by the troat and steals the information from their minds, before telling them and all the assembled students to "Stay away from Todd or you will suffer" He goes immediatly to where todd lies, dazed nd confused in a shallow ditch and sprinkled with dirt. Pepito takes Todd to his house and asks his mom to call the school and excuse them for the next couple of days. She obliges after hearing his explanation. Todd wakes up to Pepito infernally healing his says that he knows who attacked Todd and he will deal with them promptly. Todd asks hm not to and PEpito is upset because"Why won't you let me protect you, Todd?" They come to something of an agreement regarding other people. Pepito still maims but refrains from outright murder more often than not and todd becomes more open about the people that bother him

At first Todd wonders if he's in heaven. Pepito and Senor Diablo are real so heaven must be. Heaven is a lot nicer than his house, even if it is cold. Frankly he could do without his head being in a vise grip. He could do without the puke sludging up out of his mouth. Does he have a mouth or is it a metaphysical projection his consiousness has formed? He could do without- ok, actually, this might be purgatory. And he's mostly okay with that. Pepito isnt going to hurt him here and neither is his scary dad. Todd tries to think the thoughts "pepito can visit if he wants i think" and "pepito's dad loves him, my dad doesn't maybe there was a reason for that and it's why I'm here" but there isn't enough room for both thoughts in his head, what with his skull pressing in on everything. He drags his gaze up to the sickly trees around him and closes his maybe-physical-maybe-spiritual eyes. When they open again the light is fading into darkness, or is it the dark is fasing into light? Todd cant tell. A low ringing pervades everything like the background hum of radiation. He remembers this having a name, the Music of the Spheres, the noises made of heaven, hell and earth moving around each other. Pepito said he could hear it sometimes. Todd wondered if it was really loud in purgatory or if it was really purgatory making all of the noise the whole time.

It's when Todd does not arrive at school that Pepito's already tense radar goes off the walls. Their homeroom had been the same in grade school and it hadn't changed since they got to hi skool. Even in the midst of their preculiar argument, Todd had still shown up at school. His very best friend valued his education too much to let it spoil like raw meat in the sun without him here to take it into himself. Todd even showed up to school when he was sick, as his father demanded that he not be in the house for a minimum of three hours per day.


	7. Wrath

Rage

While Senor Diablo was the pinnacle of pride, Pepito was not. Of course it wasn't to say that he didn't have his own share of it. Pepito was as sure of his superiority as any one malevolent , sentient being could be. He left traces of it behind him as he stalked through the streets at night. Each foot step he took was one taken with complete surety of his place at the top of the world. For all of that, though, Pride wasn't really Pepito's be all end all. That spot went to something else.

While Pepito felt pride for being above the disgusting pig-worms that were posing as people, for being the one that would end them and their horrifically putrid and meaningless lives, that pride was overshadowed time and time again by something far more powerful. It surged up and over pride, sloth and gluttony like vomit out of the mouth of a marshmallow brained talk-show enthusiast. Wrath was his true calling.

Those that would call him a liar for speaking the truth of the ends times had their faces vaporized straight off of their empty heads. Line budgers would be teleported to the end of the line, or most of them would, their skin wouldn't make the trip with the rest of them. People in theaters disrupting movies would be pulled inside out and attacked by wild dogs. Any number of offenses would be dealt with swiftly, harshly and deliciously. While the few survivors often knew to duck and cover there were always more newbies around, uninitiated in the ways of terror and blind fear.

Hi Skool was full of the uninitiated. Most of the students had come from different Middle Skools in the area than Pepito and Todd. That was because Pepito had melted the faces off of the greater majority of their classmates on the last day. It was well deserved. They had been attempting to stone Todd into brain death, possibly to bring him down to their level. The sheer thought that they would even throw hurtful words at Todd, much less physically take it upon themselves to pose a threat made the hellfire in him rage impossibly higher. He had pulled his clenched jaw apart in an angered scream as the power radiating off of him destroyed the filthy worm-children. What ever the reason, they had been throwing rocks at his Todd and lost their faces because of it. Since the worthless souls with the minds of slugs needed faces to live for the most part, a great many of them expired from their injuries after the fact leaving their Hi Skool class to be composed of those that hadn't wizened up.

Sophomore year's students had learned that harming Todd was an instant death a lot faster than the previous class. It had only taken the time they called him a loony made for a leash and the other incident with the squirrel before they made the connection and stayed away. It had frightened Todd at first when every student in the halls would stop walking and plaster themselves to the wall as he and Peptio walked by. Eventually Todd stopped noticing and the frightened curve of his back curling in on himself for protection straightened to the confident line of someone well at ease with the fact that their presence parted crowds like the Red Sea. It was Pepito and Todd, alone in the midst of a million meaningless lives, undisturbed and decently content. Still there were the occasional morons that would so often interrupt their peaceful lives, as though they were monkeys who stuck their hands into electric fences to check that, yup, it was still electrified, only to find themselves trapped and dead before they knew it. Carmen Leopold was this year's monkey.

Carmen had hip, fashionable clothes, mostly clear, pale skin and a completely unremarkable soul. She had no special talents or brains and her destiny was to be among the vermin that filled hell. All in all, completely ignorable, except that she thought it would be a great idea to harass Pepito's beloved.

The crowd of students in the halls flattened themselves against the walls like take out containers as Todd and Pepito ambled down the cheap linoleum hallway. The din of voices silenced immediately as they passed, eyes riveted to the pair. The silence made it obvious who was being addressed when a female voice called out"Hey, Weirdo!"

Todd, having become used to the silence as of late was extra startled and squeaked very loudly. A few children giggled a bit, having not heard the noise before. The few survivors from Middle Skool gave up on what ever had motivated them to be in the hallway in the first place and immediately ducked into any available door for escape. They knew exactly what was coming. Todd attempted to ease his racing pulse as he and Pepito turned around to face the source of the noise.

"hey, weirdo!" Carmen exclaimed again, "Nobody likes you! Why don't you just leave already?!" Her left hand rests on her cocked hip as the right one flips her hair dismissively. "Everybody hates you and your face is super ugly, too!" She laughs scornfully, as the ambient temperature of the surrounding block rises and rises as Pepito's fury grows.

Snarls leaked through Pepito's clenched fangs as he stretched his left arm an impossible fifteen feet down the hallway to grab Carmen by her skinny neck. He jerked her up and off of her feet and viciously slammed her back down again and again, before throwing her into the lockers as witless onlookers scrambled to get out of the way. The flimsy lockers crumpled inwards from the force of the blow. Carmen only survives the crash because Pepito wants to extend her suffering beyond a simple toss. She didn't even get a chance to fall to the ground as Pepito clenched his taloned fist in her hair and retracted his arm, dragging her towards him, gasping and crying.

All the while, Pepito's snarls had been steadily growing and now he was all but roaring furiously and drowning the neighborhood in infernal power. Carmen was within a normal arms length when Pepito feels Todd tug gently on his arm. The noises halted immediately as Pepito turned his attention towards the gangly human boy. "Que es, Mi corazon?" Pepito queried softly and sweetly, as though he wasn't currently in the process of maiming or murdering a teenage girl in front of a crowd of his classmates.

"Can you, maybe, not hurt her?" Todd pled quietly. He had recovered from the initial startling and was now making eye contact, eyes darting away every few seconds only to return faithfully to Pepito's. "She was mean but she doesn't deserve all that." His eyes then locked with Pepito's. A moment... two moments...and Pepito drops Carmen like a jar of moldy butter.

Pepito gently wraps his arm around Todd's shoulders and tugs, leading them on their way. Todd looks back at Carmen on the ground for a single moment, pity in his eyes and heart. Pepito gazed at him and smiles sweetly. Pepito turned his head around on his neck the moment Todd looked forwards again and hisses.


	8. Change of Residence

"Dad?" Todd's voice is shaken and piecemeal as he tries to calm his surging heart. He walks to stand next to the pile of his meager belongings, white knuckled hands clenched around the straps of his worn backpack. He drags his gaze from the bags to the man that had defined the greater portion of his life. His father stands in the doorway of the house that had been his home for years. The entryway light turning him into a silhouette and a shine on glasses.

"You're graduated, you're an adult means it's time to go out on your own." he intones, like that means anything to him at all. "Don't come back," he commands. Then the door slams and Todd Casil is all at once freshly graduated from Hi Skool and Homeless.

Todd is neither shocked nor stunned, having seen too many things in his short and terrible life to be feeling like that without some form of maiming happening. Instead he stands, saddened, and looks at the trash bags full of his life and thinks about what he really needs to take with him. There were his sketchbooks full of art or the notebooks full of the comforting stories he used to tell himself at night to calm his frightened heart. There was his scant wardrobe, threadbare, familiar. There was his life, collected cleanly in three trash bags and discarded heartlessly. Todd grabs the clothes and stuffs them into his backpack as well as he can. While he loves the notebooks dearly, he can't really take them with him. The career that is being homeless takes dedication and a careful ability to not get too bogged down with trash to move. Todd looks at the house that was his one more time and turns away. He then sets off to the park to go be a homeless bum in peace.

Todd doesn't expect to live his whole life as a homeless bum in peace, entirely. People regularly attack the homeless bums on the street, risking their lives in the process. The other bums are territorial and strong and used to people attacking them. Todd doesn't have that experience yet, so he hides in the park and attempts to sleep under a bench, shoddily maintained by the negligent city. The splintered wood does a terrible job of keeping the pounding rain from drenching him to the core but it's better than nothing, he supposes. The grass tickles his face slightly as he attempts to find a good place to settle his head. There are no good places. Still he picks a spot that's marginally less wet and closes his eyes. It takes a while for sleep to find him, but it eventually does and he's out like a busted porch light.

To say falling asleep under a park bench in the rain is unpleasant is something of an understatement; It's more than simply unpleasant, it's soul crushing and depressing and a whole host of other adjectives. Todd never ever wants to do it again, especially if he wakes up the same way every time as he does this time; he wakes up in a state of complete and utter terror as the bench he was previously sleeping under is torn from its bolted foundations. Todd forgoes his characteristic squeak of a muffled shriek in favor of a full blown scream of horror. Todd jolts into a sitting position and turns to find himself staring into the maw of Hell, gaping wide. He nearly faints on the spot, except the maw closes, revealing its owner to be a giant black poodle that he recognizes.

"Todd." Todd's head turns and there stands Pepito Diablo, seven foot two, covered in chains connected to a single silver lock, and wearing a concerned frown. Todd's seen him pouting childishly and seen him screaming, but he's never seen him frown like that. He's still holding the park bench in his hand as though it weighs less than a paper clip. He notices Todd noticing it and tosses it carelessly over his shoulder to smash into a large rock, turning them both into a small explosion of shards and splinters. "I attempted to visit you, but you were not in your room. So I had Woofles track you down." When Todd fails to rise or respond, Pepito bends down onto his knees in the mud.

"Why are you out here, carino?" he enquires, sounding for all the world like a doting wife discovering their spouse entangled in the workings of a surprise gift. The sweet tone would have been dissonant with Pepito's voice as deep and dark as the Mariana trench and laced with echoes of wails of the damned. It would have been as jarring as his appearance to anyone else, but Todd welcomes it. Letting the voice of Damnation ease his turbulent heart, Todd leans into the hand rising to caress his rain soaked face. He feels something like a gentle nudging in the back of his mind and looks into Pepito's peculiarly colored eyes. Then, there he is, sweeping over Todd's mind like cool water on a summer day. He feels Pepito wash over his soul and it suddenly doesn't matter that he's wet and homeless because Pepito is there and in that moment it feels like they will never, ever be alone again.

Pepito catches onto the snippet of information winding its way though their link. It takes a split second before the fury floods in from every corner, because How Dare They? They should treasure you as I do. Pepito releases a growl like a flood, spilling over in every direction and causing animals to flee for their tiny lives. It rises in volume till it shakes the earth like thunder and the heat pouring off of him dries the ground around them, scorching the plants. His eyes light up with hellfire, the red eye as bright as molten steel and the green eye acidic and lethal.

Todd leans towards him. His free arm winds around Todd's shoulders and draws him closer. The searing heat gentles into something soothing when it seeps into Todd's skin. Pepito smiles wanly as his beloved snuggles closer to him, seeking the sensation of being held while never breaking eye contact. They bring their bodies closer together. Pepito can feel Todd's delicate, rabbit quick heartbeat as surely as Todd can feel the cold metal of the lock around his neck and the chains looped around his body.

Pepito asks Todd to "Come Home," like he's afraid that Todd will refuse him. Todd unblinkingly wraps his fragile hand around the clawed one on his face like he was afraid Pepito wouldn't ask.

That night Todd sleeps well. Soft blankets cocoon him in their cottony embrace. He rests without nightmares. Pepito makes sure of it. Were anyone to crack open the door and peek inside they would find the Antichrist himself, hovering over a sleeping young man like an apparition, filing the room with endless whispers of unspeakable origin. The demonic light of mismatched eyes throws an odd tinge of color about the room when the comforting darkness of the night makes its transition to the stark sunlight of the day.

Todd wakes for the first time to what will be the rest of his life; which is to say the first thing he sees when he pries his eyes open is eyes, specifically Pepito's eyes. He squeals in surprise and jerks up too quickly for Pepito to dodge. Frightened force meets infernal object to predictable results. Todd falls back into the coverlet, clutching his head and suddenly reminded of Pepito's first time visiting him in the Defective Head Meat Institute. He feels a hand press itself to his head and his eyes snap open again. He looses the look of horrified mania when he sees it's only Pepito, hovering over his bed. In the back of his head he laughs a bit, because it's only the antichrist, harbinger of ultimate destruction and keeper of Hell, nothing for him to fear at all. Pepito leeches the pain away from Todd's magically unbruised head before retracting his arm to his side.

"Buenos Dias, Todd," he chirps as he levitates to the side of the bed rather than directly above it. The menagerie of chains wound around him make no sound as he sets his feet on the floor. He doesn't look away as Todd gets up slowly and pulls the covers back over the bed neatly. The antichrist waits patiently for his chosen one to turn around to face him.

"Mother is preparing cookies in the kitchen. She requests your presence." Fire spawns around Pepito's feet, preparing to whisk him away to Hell knows where.

"You're not staying?"

"I shall be occupied for sometime," he admits, fire reaching up his legs slowly. "I shall return before seven o'clock, mi Teroso." and then the fire surges up to envelop him and he's gone.

Pepito returns as promised, well before seven. He kneels before Todd and presents to him a strikingly familiar wallet, splattered with blood. "It is yours by right," he coos tenderly, reaching out to press both of Todd's hands around the wallet that was probably pried from his father's cold,dead hands literally.

"A soul entered Hell recently," Pepito murmurs softly, stroking Todd's clasped hands."The house it owned was put up for sale and I bought it. We can move in tomorrow. You'll never be homeless again, amigo. Never, for as long as you live." Pepito promises reverently. He means every word of it and Todd knows it. Of course, Todd doesn't know that for as long as he lives means, due to Pepito, literally forever, but they'll get to that part when they get there. For now the proud Prince of Hell on bended knees, smiles up at the most merciful soul to ever walk the disgusting, undeserving earth. And Todd smiles back at him.


	9. Interrupted Routine

Honestly, Todd didn't have to work. Pepito paid for most things in the house (taking over hell from his father had been a very lucrative choice, as there were always more people to damn) and the others just sort of appeared whenever Pepito wanted. That tended to leave scorch marks on the floor though and Todd would doubtlessly go insane if he stayed cooped up in their house all the time. He liked to go out and be useful and to remind himself that not all floors under his feet would be hot with the fires of Hell rising from the basement. Thus the job filing in the back room of a big company. Todd got to see people in passing on the way in and out and occasionally when an employee would miss a filing deadline and try to get a paper back dated or submitted behind their boss' back. In addition to the weekends and trips to the grocery store Todd had all the human contact he needed aside from a few bouts of loneliness. Those were easily cured with visits to see Senor Diablo's lovely wife and the mother of the antichrist, Rosemarie Diablo.

As for inhuman contact, well he got an unending supply of that at home. Pepito followed Todd every second of the day that he allowed him to and quite a few times that Todd would have preferred solitude. Pepito was there from the moment he awoke more days than not, staring at him as he slept.

"Buenas dias,Todd," he would softly say, looming over the smaller form in the bed. Then he would go to the kitchen and stack frozen waffles on plates and cook them with hellfire from his palms while Todd dressed. After conversation over breakfast they would walk up to the front door.

Pepito said the same thing everyday,"Hasta luego, Todd,"With his voice as deep as the pits os Hell itself. Everyday Todd would listen to the antichrist in front of him speaking with the voice of legion in his mouth and smile sincerely as he walks out the door to a quiet day organizing papers.

Pepito's work never made him leave home like Senor Diablo, who had liked going on personal damning missions for work. And to this day Todd wasn't sure if the personal touch was the real goal or maintaining the illusion that he wasn't Satan for his wife for all those years. If it was the later, then Pepito didn't have anything to worry about. Todd already knew that his best friend was the child of evil incarnate. Rather than putting up the front of a businessman with a nine to five job, Pepito let everything about him drip darkness, temptation and sin. From his clothing to his spiraling horns jutting from his forehead, Pepito made it fairly apparent what he was. His work was in the basement and he never really had to step foot outside their front door. That didn't mean he didn't stand by it everyday as Todd went off to work.

Todd was so small and fragile to Pepito. Not particlarly Tall or broad and with expressive eyes that belied his heart full of creativtey, fear ,and sweetness, Todd was delicate. Thin, pale wrists showed his blood in its veins everyday as though inviting someone to come and break the skin there and suck it all out. It tempted him sometimes. At moments Pepito would desire to wrap his teeth around Todd's supple flesh and drink in all of him that he could. The monsters and creatures of the world seemed to yearn for the same en masse it seemed. From the infernal to the extraterrestrial to the common place monsters that were humans, everything desired to destroy his friend.

It wasn't always physical destruction either. Humans delivered endless emotional blows everyday until Pepito started stepping in. As children their classmates sought to tear him down endlessly. Physical threats and humiliations, even years later it stoked a flame of world destroying, vengeful fury when Pepito thought of it. That had ended quickly when Pepito took up with the waifish, ostracized child. More than one brat went home from classes missing a limb or vital organ. Pepito had been pleased to see Todd's shoulders no longer slump and to hear his voice grow louder, free of the burden his peers had been. Sometimes the slump would raise its head once more like a wailing spirit he had not tormented into submission well enough. His eviction by his father had been such a time as well as his parents subsequent (deserved )funerals.

Pepito would recognize that slump even before it began. It started showing more and more as Todd began to leave home in the mornings for work. It wasn't yet the slump of dejection, just a nagging feeling in the back of Todd's head. Pepito heard it getting louder by increments as time went on. He would not allow that feeling to continue whispering into Todd's ears. Only Pepito was going to whisper anything into Todd's helpless ear as he lay restless in bed.

It started like every other day for Todd. Pepito's mismatched eyes were locked firmly onto his from the moment he awoke.

"Hey Pepito," Todd forced out through his yawn.

" Good morning Todd" Pepito gave a small smile and made a sound like warping metal being pulled apart. Todd half considered going back to sleep. it was too early in the morning for speaking in unknowable tounges. "Come, Todd," the antichrist continued as he stood. "I shall prepare omlettes today." Well that certainly had Todd awake.

"I didn't know you could make omlettes, Pepito," Todd muttered in astonishment.

Mother taught me recently. Pepito's voice rang in Todd's head as Todd changed out of his Happy Noodle Pajamas. Pepito never yelled at Todd and it included yelling to him. The mental link he formed as a child visiting his friend in the booby-hatch had survived the years and allowed communication other than yelling. Pepito preferred using it to talk to Todd when they were not in the same room. That suited Todd just fine. Pepito could get very loud and intimidating very quickly.

Todd finished dressing and meandered into the kitchen to see that Pepito had indeed made omlettes. Todd smiled and let out a blissful sound at his first bite. Pepito's intent gaze grew satisfied as the other ate and conversed. Soon enough their food was done and they walked towards the front door.

The second surprise of the day came in the form of Pepito stilling his hand as he reached for the door knob. Todd let out a squeak of surprise as his hand was eveloped in his companion's. He turned towards Pepito with a question on his tounge, only for it to die there as Pepito's other hand reached up to gently hold his face.

Todd woke up with Pepito's red and green eyes on his almost everyday. He lived with those eyes eternally set on him. They comforted him and frightened him in turn with their intensity. They reached deep into his soul and pulled out fears, desires, secrets and more. But for all of that it could have been their first time making eye contact. Todd had never felt Pepito's gaze pierce through him like they did then. It felt as though the world had narrowed to the exact dimensions of the person in front of him.

Slowly, slowly the antichrist moved forwards. Tilting expertly to avoid knocking his large horns into the wall he gently laid a soft kiss on Todd's forehead. Todd felt magic rush over him in a great wave of heat. It sent shivers up his spine and all his skin tingled with something like yearning or bliss. Pepito lingered as though tasting Todd's thoughts. He stood and murmured in that terrifying tongue of his. Pepito's chapped lips moved deliberately against his skin as they stood there. Todd only noticed he had let his eyes close as Pepito pulled away. He opened them to see Pepito, with not even a breath of space between them.

"I would give the world to you, mi corazon, if you asked it of me. I would destroy anything which opposed you," Pepito continued in his voice like velvet and silk and sin on his ears and hin his head. "I would tear the angels from the sky for you so that they may worship you instead. I would rip my heart from my chest and present it to you before i would ever hurt you. I would have you always with me. Soy el rey del infierno, sí, pero eres mi corazon, Todd."

Todd stood there, stunned into silence. Pepito pulled back all the way, gave a small nod and willed the front door to open. Hands on his shoulders, and the press of lips scorched into his soul, Todd let himself be let out the door and to their small car.

Satisfied with his work, Pepito smiled pleasantly and said "Adios, mi amor. See you after work." He turned and was back in the house before Todd could conjure up a single work to say to him.


End file.
